Berkeley National Security Institute

In an effort to encourage a better understanding of how the federal government operates and to expose high school students to careers in federal service, TBDA developed a one-of-a-kind pilot program with Berkeley Preparatory School to teach high school students about the national security decision making process. The Berkeley National Security Institute students are taught by subject matter experts about the various agencies represented on the National Security Council, e.g., the agencies’ missions, authorizations, limitations and culture, over the course of six, two-hour classroom sessions. At the conclusion of the lecture modules, the students complete a capstone exercise that presents them with a notional national security threat. The students are assigned to represent an agency and develop the agency’s response to the threat. They must then brief their response to the other “agency heads” and achieve consensus on a proposed response. The course concludes with three site visits to locations involved in national security decision making and response.